My revised beauty routine for Karachi winters

“It is of utmost importance that you change your beauty regimen with the changing season,” said the all the YouTube beauty gurus I’ve ever watched.

Being a very beauty/style conscious person myself, I’ve always tried to make changes in the products I use with respect to the seasonal changes. However, it wasn’t until this year, when the stress of university and exams really took its toll on me and my skin. My skin looked dull and my under-eye bags had bags of their own.

My entire body was shedding off dry skin like some grotesque reptile and my makeup routine didn’t seem right anymore. This is when I decided to really pay attention to those beauty bloggers because let’s admit, they aren’t called ‘beauty gurus’ for nothing. So this week I decided to make some highly recommended changes to my routine and share my experience with you all.

1) The first and most important change I made was to increase my water intake. This is not confined to winters only; hydration is important all year round. But in winters, we tend to drink less water than normal which leads to dullness and dryness and aforementioned shedding.

2) The second thing I started to do was stock pile different moisturizers for every specific part of my body. Evidently, using the same big bottle of moisturizer for your entire body is not the way to go (oops). So I bought three different creams, one for my face, one for my body and one for my hands and feet. I didn’t fail to notice how all of the creams have different consistencies and feel different from one another. I guess I should’ve done this a long time ago!

3) Oils! Oils! Oils! Apparently, every beauty-related issue I’ve ever had has one simple solution: oil. Lately we’ve been seeing an increase in the use of oils for different things such as priming, makeup removing, anti-aging etc. Out of numerous oils, the best for dry winter spells is coconut oil. I started using it all over my body after every bath and instantly felt my skin becoming softer.

4) Another one of my issue was excessive hair loss. I was shocked by the numerous clumps of hair that would fall off my scalp every time I’d shower. The suggested remedy for this was to lessen your frequent use of shampoo and not wash your hair with hot water, as hot water weakens the roots and leads to breakage. To put this into effect, I hoarded dry shampoo and, believe me, it’s amazing! Just spritz a little on your roots where it looks oily and viola!

5) One of the lesser known hacks for dry lips that I learned from an aunt is to use vix instead of Vaseline. Now this seemed really crazy to me but Vaseline did not do the job and would be completely off within a few minutes. So I started using vix over night on my lips and they felt incredible in the morning. I guess it’s the menthol in it that softens and exfoliates the dry skin right off!

6) Exfoliation once or twice every week does wonder for dry dull skin! I use a pumice stone for my feet and a scented body scrub for my entire body during the bath when my pores are nice and open and the exfoliants can really get in and scrape off the dead skin, give it a little glow.

7) One of the most significant changes I had to make was to change my liquid foundation. As is, foundations are the hardest to find for desi skin tones; anyway, having to change ‘the one’ was nothing short of painful. However, it was necessary. My old foundation was for summer wear and helped combat humidity, so obviously it made my skin look chalky and dull in the dry winters. I opted for a more luminous foundation and for daily wear I add a blob of face moisturizer to create a more everyday friendly lightweight product.

8) Another thing I’ve started to do is wear petroleum jelly on my face during bed time. This prevents your drying overnight and helps lock in moisture.

So these are a few changes I made to my routine and I’m already seeing results! It is important to do these to prevent premature aging and keeping your skin glowing and healthy.